2nd graders are in some serious competition with Van Gogh... Take a look at all the different ways each student renders a "stoke", how they illustrate movement, and how they perceive Van Gogh's Painting.!! Love these.
Just in time for Spring..
We started by looking at Van Gogh's painting up close, so we could see all of the greatness that Van Gogh's paintings are: mood, movement, color, texture... I asked a series of questions engaging the classes to describe what they see - What season could this painting be? How do you know? What kinds of colors do you think Van Gogh would have used if it was Fall or Winter? How do we know that's grass in the background? How does he apply the paint to show movement and energy? Why do you think he layered so many colors?!
I explained what a "stoke" is, and that we can make layers of them with different colors to draw a Van Gogh style picture. I started the lesson with guided drawing - the big wavy long leaves, then the stalks and blossoms. I asked them what colors they noticed in the leaves, and I layered these colors with oil pastels ("scratching") on the board to demonstrate. We made sure to notice all of the overlapping within the picture. It was lovely to hear students pointing this out as they had learned it when we did our shape lesson of the Winter Birds.
After we got started everyone went to town on their own. Look how some students conceptualized the flowers into basic shapes, some used their imaginations to add fun little bees and unexpected stokes of color. I wish I could let go and paint like these guys !
